The Silver Stream

Robert Roennfeldt (author/illustrations)

Working Title Press, Australia: 2003

ISBN: 1876288469

Genres: animals, information text, non-fiction, picture books

Issues: ecology, environment

Mother Platypus has prepared her burrow and is about to give birth. She lays two soft eggs and then waits for them to hatch. When Platypea and Platypie do break through their shells, they are like little pink jellybeans and have a great deal of growing to do, nurtured by her rich milk.

Gradually they grow and develop fur. Soon Mother Platypus is urging them to come and explore the beautiful world of the silver stream and teaching them how to find food for themselves.

Oil on rag paper illustrations capture the platypuses and their environment exactly, especially the dark earth of the tunnel and the rippling brightness of the stream. Although fiction, the story is soundly based in fact and this will make an excellent text with which to introduce younger readers to the habitat and behaviour of one of Australia's most remarkable mammals, the platypus.